The SS United States set the record for the fastest ever passenger ship crossing from New York to Britain, and was used by John F Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Making the journey in July 1952 in three days, 10 hours, and 42 minutes, it beat the previous record by 10 hours and still holds the transatlantic speed record, the Blue Riband award.

Today the ship is a sorry shadow of its former self, having been retired in 1969 and sitting rusting for almost half a century in various docks around the world. Since 1996 it has been docked in Philadelphia, at a cost of $60,000 a month – meaning the conservancy fund which owns the ship announced, in October, it was seriously considering scrapping the historic vessel.

On Thursday, however, the ship was thrown a lifeline.

The SS United States sits in the Delaware River in South Philadelphia, in 1998. Photo: AP/Chris Gardner

Crystal Cruises announced that they had reached a “purchase option agreement” with the SS United States Conservancy, which has for years struggled to prevent the ship being melted down and sold for scrap.

The agreement, reached at unspecified cost, means that Crystal have nine months to conduct feasibility studies on restoring the steamer described as the last of America’s great ocean liners. And, if they conclude that full restoration is possible, it could be racing through the waves to Britain once more.

“The prospect of revitalising the SS United States and re-establishing her as America’s Flagship once again is a thrilling one,” said Edie Rodriguez, president of Crystal, at a press conference at the Manhattan cruise terminal.

The SS United States sits along the Packard Marine Terminal pier in Philadelphia, in 1996. Photo: AP/Bob Olender

“It will be a very challenging undertaking, but we are determined to apply the dedication and innovation that has always been the ship’s hallmark.”

Mr Rodriguez said that, to meet modern demands and be in full regulatory compliance, the ship will have to be extensively rebuilt. The plan is to transform the rusting hulk into an 800-guest-capacity ship with 400 suites. Furthermore, they plan to maintain her title as the fastest cruise vessel in the world.

The ship has long fascinated America. She was designed as part of a top-secret Pentagon programme during the Cold War, which stipulated it could be quickly converted from a luxury liner into a naval troopship in the event of a war, carrying 15,000 troops up to 10,000 nautical miles – almost half way around the globe – without refuelling.

“It ran like a fine Swiss watch,” says Bob Sturm, who was an engineer on board the ship from 1957 to 1959. “It never had a break down in its service life. It was a pleasure to work on it.”

The designer, William Francis Gibbs, was meticulous in his 40-years of planning for the ship.

The SS United States in 2010 Photo: AP/Matt Rourke, File

In order to make it as light and swift as possible, he insisted on using aluminium instead of steel. He also hated the idea of wood, which risked catching on fire.

“Gibbs wanted Steinway to make the pianos out of aluminium,” said Thomas Basile, an adviser to the conservancy. The piano-maker refused, but ended up using fireproof mahogany instead. The pianos and the butcher blocks were the only wood items on board — at Gibbs’ insistence, even the clothes hangers and shuffleboard pucks were made of plastic.